0.5 out of ten :)

This year the choir is celebrating its 25th anniversary. I have been a member since 2009.

The celebration takes place in December in the 'advent' season and one of the pieces we do will be the Hallelujah choir from Händel's Messiah.

My son, now a first year BSc student to become a forest engineer in 5 years, has finished 3 of his 6 exams of the first semester.

He has spent the Christmas season with us and we were able to see how he changed. He turned 19 and he is not the teenager he used to be. He is responsible and mature in many ways. I am so proud of him.

I keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the 3 exams. And this is only the first of the ten semesters :) 

Oh, the life of mothers...

at present

there is a great flood in Hungary (as almost everywhere in Central Europe). they say this is the biggest one in the century, but it is also said to be bigger than any flood in the 1900's.

-

the school my kids attend provided strong young boys and even girls to help the locals build mobil dams with the use of large sand sacks.

i am proud of my son (16+) who worked at Nagymaros, a small town by the Duna (River Danube) on Wednesday.

-

this photo depicts a cemetery.

and the Danube keeps flowing on

my recent job sort of ended this tuesday. 

-

this is good news, my friends.

-

a short break

shortly after my fifth (is it the sixth???) bloggiversary, i'm taking a short break.

don't be afraid, i'm not going very far.

-

on Saturday for once, i'm going on a one-day trip with my daughter to the Dobsi.na ice cave - it's worth to take a look HERE.

i found the trip via a newsletter i receive from an online hiking group i have recently joined. their main profile are inland trips and trips to countries around Hungary. this one trip aims at an interesting cave up north where Hungary's Uplands are. now they belong to a country that is younger than me.

-

for a couple of days more, we are going to have quite a mess in the house.

beginning Monday, we are going to have the old oven renovated in the living room/bedroom.

-

also, as the kids are getting older the need to have a separate room emerged. it is not easy as we have only four rooms.

let me break it down for you.

room 1.

the newest one, where a new oven was built this August. see the photo attached.

room 2.

the one with lots of windows.

due to the location and circumstances of the room, temperature goes below 10 or even 5 degrees centigrade in the winter, so this room can not be used all year round.

it's great to play or read as there are plenty of light there, but is unsuitable for sleeping. also, it is really small, so we can't place a cupboard or table there.

room 3.

also knows as : office.

it is rather small. two large bookshelves, and a large cupboard and a table under the window with two computers basically fill the room completely.

room 4.

the one room out of the four fit and large enough for all-year-round sleeping.

it is the largest room.

but now we must change the situation one way or another.

-

school has started today

the kids are now going to a high school in the town where we live.

my daughter (b. March 2000) has started grade 5 and her education will last for 8 years.

my son (b. December 1996) has started grade 9 and will graduate from high school in June 2015.

they commute by bus.

unfortunately there are no school buses here, so they have to take the town's own bus system.

today was like this:

we got up at 6:00 am, they took off at 7:10 am. they arrived home by 2:30 pm.

this is the first time my kids are going to the same school at the same time.

my daughter had 5 classes, but my son had 6.

she waited in the hall for her brother and they went home together.

i know i am being sentimental, but it warmed my heart up :)))

-

there is a new job on the horizon... more on that later :)

making pasta

looky!
a post with a subject other than my accident and related dental problems.
whoa.
here, here!
we bought a simple hand-made machine that can turn a loosely formed dough of flour and eggs into useful shapes of fresh pasta.
they are much more delicioso than those one buys at the shops.
hear pasta!
imagine the smell of tomatoes!
the smear of olives!
the fall of freshly grated cheese from a chinaware!
the feel of the outer peel of garlic!
the onset of unwanted kilos!
loads of fun!
the kids involved in something useful for the household!
a hearty, meat sauce with hungarian paprika!
some morekilos!
whoa!
hear us eating!

(how come i still managed to fit those magic words into this completely non-related post. i deserve a good surprise.)

looking forward to 2011

it's a new title and even the title sounds more optimistic, doesn't it?

for the year 2011 we are planning to move on with the renovation and certain jobs in the garden should definitely be done already (like creating a paved garden path, and re-locating the fireplace to another, more shady place.)

also, i'm planning to

... have both my kids entered into a new school.

...have my teeth finished (i broke my upper jaw, lost four teeth in an accident last October, the second dental surgery is scheduled for 7 february)

...have lots of great family events...

...travel to finland with the women's choir in mid-may :)

...write, write and write... (recently i have almost given up writing in English... i just don't see the point. i don't know... any opinions in this matter?)

...do lots of exercises... (the accident and my lazyness is starting to cause some pain in my lower back and i really, really don't like it)

-

anyway, here is a photo I made earlier this january.

this is my son's cake for his 14th birthday (which is on 30 december) - i posted the photo to acknowledge the baking and decoration talent of my mother in law.

you may want to click on the photo to see those chicken more (they are made of marzipan, by my husband). the chicken are placed on top of an old-fashioned radio.

the inscription, of old hungarian runes read: pak-pak, which is just a fun way to say quack-quack (ie. what a chicken would say) in a childish language.

and here's another photo my husband made last december. can you spot my daughter in the picture? she's extremely good at climbing. she is about 3-3.5 metres high in a pine-bush, it's a tree with actually no solid branches. watching her doing this trick just sends shivers down my spine :)

what are your plans for 2011? share in the commets, please.

under the snow

dear all,

i did finish NaNo, i do have that manuscript that is still being revised.

revision will surely take weeks or event months.

i have sent chapter 2 for a friend to revise and right now i am revising chapter 3.

some say we have to get to a certain distance from the text, some argue the writer should be still 'in the flow'.

i am now kind of inbetween.

-
our choir has performed a modern oratorium last week.
when we started to learn the notes in May we had doubts about the overall quality of the piece, but things started to look for the better once we started to do rehearsals with the instruments. we don't usually perform with violinists, cellists, trumpets and the like, but it did help us to appreciate the piece more.
we had a full house on both evenings, and the audience seemed to have liked it.
-

we are still preparing our kids to their high-school admittance exams. aged 14 on 30th december, my son is in the 8th grade, so he is to go into a 4-year school, while my daughter, aged 11 next march will enter an 8-year high school - provided they succeed at the tests.

the ratio of admittance is 1/4-1/5, which means that only every fourth or fifth kid applying can enter the school.

there are written and oral exams in January from Maths, Hungarian and English (for my son).

it's not only the points they gather at exams that count, but the marks they got at school.

i am worried because of the lack of effort from my kids' part. my husband keeps telling me the i worry too much, my kids sense my worries and think that since 'there is someone to worry' about high school, 'i (the kid) don't have to worry about it at all'.

-

but it's the turn of the light, the length of the day will slowly increase, as Wass Albert has put it in 'The Funtinel witch', just by a matter of good will each day'

-

it's time to make those gingerbread men :) I hope to post photos one day, but now one cable is missing, the one that connects the camera with the computer.

-

the seventh cousin

dearest Örs Domonkos,
the smallest boy in the family,
be blessed,
let us be blessed by you,
for angels must have carried
you all the way from heavens,
for you came peaceful, quiet,
flying on puffs of feathers,
this very morning.
six brothers and sisters,
two parents, five grandparents,
two cousins, an uncle and I, your auntie
and friends
- we all have been waiting for you.

this to your long and healthy life!

socializing event

in hungary you basically will never find those no-fence, lawn-frontyard, come-to-my-house setting that are so common in certain parts of the usa. we all have tend to have high, strong fences, where most of the fences are so formed that you just can't see through them.

-

for an unexperienced foreigner this expressed need for safety may seem an unfriendly, a get-outta-my-place attitude.

i know that there is alienation, but not where i live :)
where i live and in many other communities, where the original hungarian hospitality is still alive, this is just the surface.

-

i have already mentioned some of the activities (like plum jam, see the post below) we, the community that has formed in our street do together.

and now, i'm going to illustrate another event: a street party.

-

there is a street just one street up from ours, where people do parties every year. this year it was the 8th gathering. they set up a large tent for stage performances , they bring tables with snack food on them, they make a large pot of goulash enough for at least 40-50 people. they gather in the evening and enjoy the performances. the night ends with dancing. it is usually rock and roll, or disco-whatever.

now this year, our community was invited to take part.

we rehearsed and came up with a performance that lasted about 20 minutes. we sang three folksongs - the one we chose were funny.

after that we improvised a short folk-tale, where there were three princesses (played by three of the little girls, one of them, the biggest was my daughter), an old king (played by one of the fathers) and a dragon (*coughs*). the story was highlighted by musical performances: traditional flutes and a doromb. (i don't know if that one has an english name at all...)

we needed three boys to make all ends meet, so we borrowed them from the audience. they enjoyed their role-playing. we received lots of applause and laughter.

-

after our performance we stayed to watch others. there was a trio that played classical music on instruments, a play making fun of the story of Cindarella, and various singing activities.

-

we arrived as one group and left as one, too.

-

this is my husband and my daughter minutes before our performance has begun. you may want to click on the photo to see her hairdo better. this hairdo is quite common for folk dancers. dh is sporting a linen shirt with a straw hat. this combo is a traditional menswear in hungary.

this is us, our family, having some fun - my son is not dancing, for he was engaged in bicycling with his friends. no, i'm not having digestive problems :) - i think we were dancing the twist. my husband and my daughther were keen on dancing. i simply got tired :)
also pictured: the other two princesses, and the stage-tent in the background.

education

this post is about the education of my kids, a short review of the Hungarian educational system, and finally, some thoughts on (not) writing :)

-

I have started to monitor my kids' school activities, homeworks more closely. within a year, they both will have to apply to another school. it involves exams. I think we should better start this early.

my son's got the brains, but he refuses to use them.

a year from now, he'll have to pass written tests from Hungarian and Math and he'll have an oral English exam, too. the system will check his marks from Hungarian, Math, English, History at the end of the 14th semester (end of 7th grade) and at the 15th semester (halfway at the 8th grade). we are gathering points. the race is tough to get into highschool.

it seems that he has not learned how to learn.

we were too busy accommodating him to all those various schools he attended.

we were busy surviving in various conditions.

i don't know if it's too late or not, but i'll do my best to help him.

-

my daughter likes to play the dumb, which is she not. she's very slow, but can sparkle. she's fine in all subjects. she's in the 3rd grade now, which means that next January she's going to write exams from Hungarian and Math to get into a secondary school/highschool.

-

for those, who are unfamiliar with the education system in Hungary, here's a short review:

all kids must go to a preschool at the year preceding their first year of school education.

kids start school at the age between 6-7. some kids start at 6 sharp, some as late as 7.5. parents have the right to decide on the right time. parents are supported by the preschool nurses, and by various consellors in making the right decision about the *when*.

once a kid gets into elementary school, he can stay there for 8 years. that's the maximum amount of elementary education.

secondary education may start after grades 4, 6 and 8.

as you have guessed, secondary education lasts either for 8, 6 or 4 years, resp.

secondary education finishes around the age of 18 and the not-so-kids with the high school diploma (GCE) can head to obtain BSc, MSc, or some other, technical qualifications in universities, or in specialized schools.

-

on the writing front:

i am quite unsatisfied with the writers' group I joined a year or so ago. here's my rant.

at the moment I have some ideas in my head, but it's all in a haze. as if I haven't decided which should go first.

but for most of the time, my mind is occupied by fragments like 'the novel, belonging to the epic genre, where...' (excerpt from my son's Hungarian book); or 'the revolution failed in 1849 and all generals were executed on ....' (quote from his History book); and pieces of arguments like 'you have to learn more so that you have more options to choose from'; and 'there's not enough time now for watching a movie, because I have't seen your math yet'; and 'please let us review this passage again'; and 'I know you are not interested, but...'; or 'I want you to reach your highest potential' and so on....

-

but apart from that, be assured I read your blogs, which are definitely more interesting than mine these times.... and i trust one day the muse hits again... she just doesn't find the way into my dense mind :))))

I do try to find some time to read, though. i hope it helps.

pumpkin story

It's daylight. You can come closer now.

Let me introduce myself: I am the guard of this house.

Hear my story:

Out in the pumpkin-fields, I enjoyed there - always thought that that was it.

But the days kept getting shorter. One morning people took me and many of my brothers to a strange place. First of all, there was the noise and the people. Lots of them.

People rushing around, coming and going by. Some touched me, some didn't even notice me. Some took my brothers away. Never me.

One afternoon the sky turned grey and the Sun hid high.

At that time, there were only two of my brothers left. I felt like never before. I felt abandoned and alone.

And then, along came that girl, hair of chestnut, eyes of autumn clouds.

She saw me, touched me, and smiled at me. She looked somewhere else and saw me still. The woman of the house lifted me up and brought me all the way here.

This is how I got home.
The man of the house took a knife and carved my flesh so that I can have the look I'm having now.

His grip was firm and the knife hurt. He kept talking to me. He made my face.

These are my clothes I'm wearing and this is my life. This is it. I am home.

It is daylight now. You can come closer and listen to my story.

But when darkness comes - stay away. I am to guard.

-

I wrote this small piece to record and honor the enthusiasm of my daughter about her own pumpkin. With this writing, I tried to capture a simple-minded Jack, who tells about his life. All photos were made by my daughter. She was the one to select her pumpkin, she instructed her father to carve the face, she chose the gardrobe and the setting, too. Those are her clothes. Her pumpkin. My story. Part truth, part fiction.

summer has gone

School has started.
-

My daughter is in the third grade, my son is in the seventh. He now starts in a yet another school. After our attempts to get him into a church-based school failed (reason: we, as a family do not attend services of any church. See? it's not your stand, but your reputation that counts. too bad for pagans like us, heh.) So I opted to remove him from his class, that did him no good at all. His classmates were underachieving and/or undergifted and/or disabled and/or of bad background. The level of education, for various purposed was extremely low and my son adopted himself to that low level. Which means he did not develope quite well.

This new school is an average state school, but his class is having extra singing lessons. I don't think *that* could be that bad.... There are 17 pupils in his class, and only 4 of them are boys. A much smoother atmosphere I guess. No more agressive behaviour from overaged mates I trust.

We'll just see.

My son has two more years in elementary education and at the age of 14 he'll be directed to a secondary school. Perhaps we'll head for the one state secondary school I wanted to avoid in my thoughs about his future this spring. But times are changing - and so are my thoughts. I want him a peaceful and strong community where he can boost up his abilities to his maximum.

Here they are, after the opening ceremony, still wearing their nice clothes.

Some photos of our summer menu:

the first one is a picture of an evening meal. bread slices are covered in egg and then are fried in oil. as a side dish, slices of eggplant are sauteéd and a ligth vegetable salad is there to balance off the juicy fat of the other two components of the meal.

this one here's a lunch. roasted chicken with sauteéd potatoes. and guess what, some salad. I love summer salads - they are so easy to make, so delicious... with a pinch of fresh hot pepper, there's a tint of spicyness to them just to tease the mouth.

this one's a cake, with apricots on top.

oh, what, another salad, yes.

summer offered lots of fruits and yes, we did take care of them - so that we don't have to worry about having a taste of summer in the winter :)

-

and yes, the fourth anniversary of blogging has peacefully gone. I would like to express my thanks for all your heartfelt comments and good wishes I recieved during these four years. There were times when a simple 'I hear you - no matter how far away you practically are' meant half the world to me....

there were times I hope when my simple words were able to contribute to someone's faith in the ultimate good will and turn of events.

Even if my English sometimes has some hiccups - I'm sorry for that.

I learned a lot from you. and I do not confine to the language at all.

I will keep on blogging and continue to use the potential of this surface to connect people and keep those precious friendships and/or relationships I have been given over the past four years.

-

with a view to another four years - God bless you all,

your crazy and indefinite tree...

bay-beeeeeeeee

Yes, finally.

She was induced (word usage, anyone?) but today around noon my husband's sister finally finished her marathon with this sixth baby of hers.

Congratulations to Nóri, who (by now) has given life to 4 girls, aged 16,9,8 and2 and 2 boys, aged 14 and ... 0.01 :)

-

The rest of this post needed rewriting and re-structuring so it was removed instead. No offence taken, but when the ratio of mistakes and clumsy expressions exceeds those that are understandable and acceptable ... one just has to push delete and review one's intentions. I've been neglecting English for a while and it shows. I'll try harder next time.

-

the inevitable

Dear all,
so far - no baby news.
It also turned out that the idea of 'kids living in our house' was a mere game my husband played on me to fool me on 1 April.
Pfft.
He knows how much incompetent I feel in situations where kids are involved - please note he does not say or think I am incompetent, but is aware of my fear of being with kids. He thinks I am not so bad with kids after all, it's only that I am lazy and a bit selfish and I prefer the convenience of being alone to being with kids, that's all. Whew. I'm not sure the whole internet was interested in such secrets about me. Well, that's just how I am...
-
We have made a decision re: my son's homeschooling. Kind of. We'll try to get him into the same school next year and if he fails again, we opt for the non-religious high school that is available in town. That school is famous for its outstanding results in Math and English and those subjects are my son's best fields. As for the lack of spirituality - I think we can make up for it at home quite well.
-
Garden news.
Spring!
Carrots and garden peas are out now and the salads have at least two leaves :)))
No photos, unfortunately.

-
Community news.
The women's asscoiation I tried to quit and where I, for the sake of a good company, finally stayed organized a Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Party this Thursday.
A costume party, as it was...whoa.
I dressed up as a Druidess, with flowers in my hair.
My hair is black (by Nature), with occasional greys here and there and is slightly curly when I make a bun of it after having it washed. I usually keep the bun, for this is the only way my hair does not get into my everyday activities, but I just let the mane go freely this time.
I wore a linen dress, but that was covered by white sheets from both the front and the back, so as to pretend I was wearing a toga.
A Druidess would normally go barefoot, so I had no socks on and was wearing light brown textile slippers.
I spent the first half of the evening in the costume but found it extremely difficult to do the barbecue.
So I switched to a security guard, with boots, durable pants, a camouflage tshirt. Tucked in my pants I wore a plastic gun, a mobile phone and I had a sort of a headset on to imitate remote-communication. I wore my hair in the usual bun at the back of my head.
I disappeared as a feminine figure, while everyone was sitting beside the fire and returned, marching in my boots and eyeing the group as a female, but quite masculine guard. I played with the headset and informed my imaginary fellow guardsmen by saying: 'I'm approaching the group. They do not seem dangerous.'
This little game I played evoked some laughter among my friends.
I enjoy playing roles very much. I think somewhere deep inside there's an actor hidden, within me. It's not an actor with much talent, but with quite a load of eagerness.
-
And finally, we are on the renovations of our house again. My husband has some days off during Eastern Holidays. There are still many things to do.
-
Have a Happy Holiday!
-
Next time it'll be either baby news, or my report on the second meeting of the Writers' Club, which was held on 6 April, or both.
-
Cheers,
SzF.

about

Dear all,
my sister-in-law (my husband's sister) is having her 6th kid these days. It's a great news, especially after the things she and her family have gone through, so I am delighted to see their new family expanding.
This also means that I am to house up three of her kids, the youngest ones, aged 9, 8 and 2. I'm unsure about my ability to check your site, or my, for that matter... and also, about my ability to handle the situation in general. I'm not very good with kids, you know, the two I have gives me enough job and challenge, but now I'll be having 5! - one of them not yet 2 years of age.
- - -
Other not-so-great news is that my son was refused from the high school we tried to get into.
We have the following options:
1. try to get into said school a year later
2. stay in the school he's now in
3. search for a new school
We are going for for option #1.
If you followed my previous thoughts on the state of that school, you understand why option #2 is outruled.
If you knew my son as much as we do, you'd see why option #3 also is out of the question.
It means that he will be homeschooled for as long as he gets into a secondary school.
...
This month April is set to find a great solution to this problem we face. We also have to find the reason for rejection. Aspiring kids had to write a test paper on Math and Hungarian (you know, the type of subject you have as English - it's both about grammar and literature).
Out of 50, he scored 46 in Math, which is a nice result.
His Hungarian was 37/50, which is... not so much. I was kind of shocked to see how low his Hungarian score was.
Well, beside these scores, the results of former years also are important. The final score is counted upon using the results of the two previous semesters. These points were quite good.
Also, since this is a Church-based school, the way he takes part in the Community also matters.
And this is where we absolutely fail.
We do not attend services, nor do we take part in any activities organized by the Reformist Church.
Prior to his writing tests, this school has a talk with the parents about the way they see the world, about their ideas about the school. I think we (my husband and I) passed this successfully and trust me, we did not lie to get a good impression.
We have our faith and are trying to raise our children to make them a useful and intelligent part of the society. We acknowledge the rule of a tough school in the right handling of the youth. We believe in setting a good example and having a fair but strict hand. This is what normally what we believe about upbringing a child. Teaching and keeping traditions and working hard to succeed - we have no problems with that.
It is the Sunday school and the community events we are not able to attend - the reasons?
It is on Sunday and we organize our life so as to have a family gathering each Sunday. Cousins and relatives often come and join us in our semi-country house. We have a meal and generally, we just spend time together.
Also, to get into town to attend the Sunday school (and the church service) would take considerable time. Time away from being home, being together and alone with our family. We are living far from where the Church is and we have no car.
Also, being pagans, we don't see the importance of being in one special building to get into contact with the Higher Being. Of having one special gathering for the purpose of serving one another and God. Of the importance of one special book in finding our way.
See?
We are not Christians.
We have not told this particular bit about our faith to the school. Had they directly asked we would have surely told them it all.
But there are so many misunderstandings we wanted to avoid.
-
We chose this particular school because we are sure this is the best possible one in town. There are four high schools in our town. Going to another town was out of the question (remember we do not own a car).
One school is Catholic. There's no way we can get into that one. The rules are even stricter over there. One belongs to the Reformed Church (the one we tried to get into). The third is a state school, with quite a good reputation for its results in Math and English (yes, English) - but there's no background of Hungarian traditions and spirituality at all there. It is strictly based on materialism, as we've heard. This is somehow repels us. The fourth is a Rudolf Steiner-based Waldorf school, the one my son was rejected from at the age of 10. We do not wish to re-enter that school by any means.
So, this is where we are...holding our heads, looking for directions...
-
I wish I could tell you some more good news, my dear. Spring is here, tulips are out.
Cheers,
SzF.

new duties

Dear all,
these days we are still waiting for the exam results and once we have them the next step of the application starts. As I have informed you my son is trying to get into a secondary school. Final results are to be expected sometime mid April.
He is either accepted - in which case he would probably need more help from us with learning. This is a tough school, you know.
But if his results are low and he stays out, we should try the same thing next year, as we were advised.
If that were the case (=no admission for the year 09/10) he would either be homeschooled OR enrolled into another (Catholic) school. Only to try the entrance exams to the same school in January 2010 once again.
-
In the meantime we are waiting, keeping his mind occupied...
-
Some of you might recall the long post I wrote about the local women's club last March. Here's the link for those who wish to care...
Well, I did not quit but restricted my activities to the minimum.
In fact, I withdrew from the management completely and turned my attention towards other activities the club took.
One of them was making mosaics.
Here's my first ever job.
A number plate for our house, displayed on the kitchen floor.

Also, being the member involved attending a film club, where once in a month we watched and discussed a non-mainstream film. One of them was Friends and crocodiles, more on the later on...
So, time has passed, the organization has changed again, for the better this time...and there I'm back again....

I've been given the task of writing articles for the monthly online magazine the group wishes to publish. Lifestlyle, traditions, gardening, herbs, environmental issues are my main areas of writing here, but I am there also as a watchdog to make sure feminism does not get carried away to the extremes...
Well, this is a title I gave myself, but I'm not doing it secretly. I'm open about being an advocate of diversity among the members of the group. As you know they used to speak diversity, but used to act the opposite.
We'll just see how it works out.

-
The online game I mentioned a couple of times here, has ended yesterday. I was sad and happy at the same time. More on that later on, too.
-
In the meantime, we are still working on our house... This is my husband and a friend laying the tiles in the kitchen.

last week

I'm only too happy to have a small piece of brain to take a look at my world around me...
-
While trying to get our son ready to get into his next type of education smoothly he was caught by some sort of a viral disease. Not only he stayed at home, he had visions and felt dizzy and had a bad cough. Once he started mocking his little sister again we knew he was on the way to health again. He's not over it yet, but chances are high that he'll be able to write his exam this Thursday.
-
My daughter was sick last weekend - literally, she was in bed all day, with a small bucket at hand, yes, to gather all that exited her mouth. And she did behave so orderly, the poor girl.
-
Taking a heartful look at last week's events, I have to reckon with the troubled conversation I had on skype with someone I met through the online game I play.
I did something carelessly (as it later turned out) he highly disapproved and his sudden lack of trust towards me shocked me more than I had ever expected. We talked for more than two hours to make things clear. Don't worry - I'm not going to bore wou with details and such, but...
I've learned a lot and I owe a great deal to him to still have our friendship. He gave me a great lesson about acceptance and generousity.
-
So the renovations are going on slowly...
My husband has taken on a new path in his (non paid) career - perhaps more to come on that later on...
-
I do follow your blogs, commenting less often than I should...
only to find Vesper's two nice and thought provoking poems today: and here's my response - take it as a moral, if you please:
-
do not fear the shadows
for when there is none, the light is gone
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a Hungarian Christmas

Here are some photos of our Christmas. Traditional dishes, fun and family members are seen.

All questions are welcomed.
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Photo #1.

The first day of Chirstmas is spent within the smallest family possible. The second and third days of Christmas however, are great occassions to gather a larger chunk of the larger family together. In this photo, my kids (2) and almost all the kids of my husband's sister are seen in the flat of my husband's mother. One kid, a boy is missing from the photo.

Photo#2.

Chicken, stuffed with minced goods, fresh from the oven. For garnishment, baked potatoes and sauteéd red cabbage are served. A hearty meat, a warmful companion for the harsh winter weather outside.

Photo#3.

This is our small Christmas tree on Christmas eve. We keep it in the large container outside throughout the year and bring it inside for the festivity. This means the plant lives as a normal container-raired tree except for the period between 24 December and 6 January.

Photo#4.

Our advent ring in the background, with a corn salad in the front. This was part of our Christmas lunch, not really traditional at all - but hey, everyone loves the way I make it.

Photo#5.

Traditional cookies. Some are made with poppyseed, walnut cream, the tree and the flower shaped ones are gingerbreads. Our neighbour, an old lady made them for her family and gave us some as a present.

- on schooling

Dear all,

yes, I'm back.

In fact I returned on October 13, but I was either too damn busy or too lazy to write a proper post, enhanced with photographs about my trip, or both. You decide. And I'm sorry. At the same time the fact that I have so many (paid) jobs to do makes me feel right somehow.

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At this moment I don't envisage blogging as a regular activity, due to my duties, which, beside my normal job as a translator, at these months are and will be:

1-helping in building and renovating our house

2-pushing my son into a high-school.

He's in the sixth grade now and it's time to move on to a secondary form of education. According to the Hungarian educational system, elementary schools are for either 4, 6 or 8 years.

My son might stay here for another two years, but some recent events forced me to think otherwise.

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As some of you might remember, my son has quite an experience in schooling. By the 4th grade he's been in three institutions, four classes and homeschooled.

When he entered this school he's in now, I thought he would stay for as long as he can - to have some rest, so to say.

But.

But.

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He finds the lessons boring, but in another way. His classes are not challenging enough. He needs some more mental feed now. Unfortunately the level of education is set to the intelligence level of the least capable person in the class. Which is a fine thing if 80% of the class is around that particular level - which is, unfortunately the case.

I'm not saying my son is a genius, but...his mates definitely do not match him.

Teachers are forced to keep the level of education low, by laws.

So off we go.

The school we are heaading for is the second best in town.

Keep your fingers crossed.

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More to come soon, with photos I made in The Netherlands.

High cheers to Bart, whom yes, I did meet!

See the proof below. Me and Bart in the Main Square of Amsterdam.